Ten Plagues COVID-19
Before the Ten Plagues
We are isolated, but as tempting as it is to lean into the imagery of the plagues, we do not want to do so. Because COVID-19 is a terrible pandemic, but not a plague. The most dangerous part of associating COVID-19 with the ten plagues is not about the malady’s origin, but about our response. When the Israelites sequestered in their homes and painted blood on their doorposts, they did it to distinguish themselves from the Egyptian households. When we stay home, it is instead a recognition that there are no distinctions to this disease; whatever we do is not primarily for ourselves, but for our neighbors and coworkers and others we do not know. Our houses have no blood on the doorpost, neither for protection nor identification. We await not a personal salvation, but an all-clear for everyone. Unlike that midnight in Egypt — we, all of us, are in this together.
—Adapted from Passover and the Pandemic by Michael Bernstein
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